OVERALL PROJECT SUMMARY The Maine INBRE (ME-INBRE) is a statewide Network of 13 public and private institutions led by the MDI Biological Laboratory (MDIBL). The Network is composed of two research institutes (MDIBL and The Jackson Laboratory), one graduate degree granting university (The University of Maine), eight undergraduate colleges and universities (Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby Colleges, College of the Atlantic, UMaine Honors College, UMaine Farmington, UMaine Machias, and UMaine Presque Isle), one community college (Southern Maine Community College), and one outreach university (UMaine Fort Kent), all of whom have confirmed their commitment through letters and Memoranda of Understanding. First generation and non-traditional students represent a substantial percentage of those attending ME-INBRE's academic institutions; the range is 16-63% for public and 9-22% for private institutions. ME-INBRE's scientific focus on comparative functional genomics fosters collaboration between scientists and students from multiple disciplines and institutions using bioinformatics as a collaborative platform. Drs. James Coffman and Dustin Updike are Principal Investigator and Program Coordinator, respectively. Their faculty mentoring, scientific leadership and administrative activities will be supported and complemented by a highly qualified team of administrators and Core Directors, a Steering Committee, and an External Advisory Committee. The Developmental Research Project Program will foster the research and career development of exceptional faculty. Competitively selected project leaders will include INBRE Investigators, who will devote 50% effort to a Research Project, and Research Training Faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI), who will devote 15- 25% effort to a Pilot Project that provides research opportunities for students on site at their PUI. Research training will be offered to undergraduate and graduate students through programs designed to meet the diverse needs of our Network. We anticipate that at minimum 1,000 individual research and research training experiences will be provided to undergraduate and graduate students during the five-year grant period. The Bioinformatics Core will provide comprehensive consulting in data management, computational infrastructure, rigor and reproducibility, and analysis, as well as bioinformatics training through workshops, courses, and mentored research experiences. The Research Training and Resources Core will coordinate management of core facility resources with INBRE-funded research and research training programs. Collaborations with Maine COBREs and regional IDeA programs will leverage resources, increase diversity, and engage students and faculty in basic, translational, and clinical research opportunities that will complement and extend ME-INBRE's programs. The Administrative Core will manage and coordinate all activities, and will implement formative and summative evaluation of ME-INBRE programs and activities to guide efforts at maximizing their effectiveness.